Salted Caramel Sauce {dairy free, refined sugar free}

A sticky, sweet and indulgent salted caramel sauce made with coconut sugar and coconut milk.

Discovering clean eating has quite literally been life changing for me. Gone are the gluten induced stomach cramps and sugar induced cravings and crashing. It has opened myself and my family up to a whole different way of eating with some ingredients which we didn’t even know existed! However (there had to be a but didn’t there!) after several months of eating this way my sweet tooth reappeared and I really began missing desserts and treats. Although grabbing a handful of nuts or a square of dark chocolate after dinner is now the norm rather than biscuits or crisps, we all still need the odd indulgent sinful snack from time to time.

Enter this Salted Caramel Sauce and all is right with the world again. Salted caramel has been a favorite of mine for years now, whether its salted caramel cookies, salted caramel cake, brownies, biscuits…you name it, I’ll eat it! When I realised that I could make a caramel sauce with no dairy and no refined sugar I nearly self-combusted with delight!

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This sauce is made using coconut sugar rather than refined white or brown sugar. Now although coconut sugar is “healthier” than normal sugar it is still high in calories with little nutritional benefit. I wouldn’t have it every day but do use it occasionally for a sweet treat or in a dessert if we have people round for dinner. And with Christmas just around the corner I do have some special recipes coming up where I plan to use my salted caramel sauce. Look out for the first one later this week!

Do you have any favourite “clean” or paleo desserts? I’d love to try out some new recipes so do let me know!

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Salted Caramel Sauce {dairy free, refined sugar free}

Description

A sticky, sweet and indulgent salted caramel sauce made with coconut sugar and coconut milk

Ingredients

7 tbsp coconut sugar

7 tbsp cold water

120ml coconut milk

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

pinch of salt

Instructions

Place the coconut sugar and water in a pan over a medium heat. Stir gently until the sugar has dissolved and let it bubble for 2-3 minutes.

Pour in the coconut milk and keep stirring until it has fully combined. Turn down the heat and allow the sauce to simmer for 10-15 minutes until it has thickened.

Remove from the heat and add the vanilla extract and salt and stir well. Pour the sauce into a bowl or jar and allow to cool. The mixture may thicken a little more once it cools.

Store in a sealed jar or container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

1 Serving7110.5 g29.7 mg3.1 g2.7 g10.9 g0 g0.3 g

PRODUCTS USED

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I believe the issue is that canned coconut milk usually has guar gum in it. That is a natural thickener, so if you are using a brand without gum in it, that is probably the reason it is not thickening. This coming from someone staring down longingly as we speak at the brown water that will not thicken 🙁 . Going to add some agar-agar or gelatin and see if that works. My IP lava cake is waiting for its caramel!!

OMG….made this for Halloween. YUMMY! I made caramel applea, caramel corn, and 2 days later, chocolate caramels. Next time I will use full fat coconut milk to hopefully get a thicker product.
Thank you for sharing this!!!

Hi, I just made this tonight and it never really thickened. I was wondering if you used full fat coconut milk or coconut cream, because there is a difference of labeling on the cans (at least in Canada)? I am hoping as it cools it will get thicker because right now is caramel liquid. But it smells delicious and I thank you for making a DF version.

Hi, yes I used full fat coconut milk from a tin. My sauce always thickens more once its cooled so hopefully yours should do the same. If it doesn’t work I would suggest to try another brand of coconut milk.

Hi Linda, for this recipe I would also recommend the canned coconut milk as it is a lot thicker than the carton variety. Presuming you’re in the UK I love Lidl own brand and also Sainsburys own brand as they seem to be the thickest but any canned brand should work just fine!

Canned coconut milk and the kind you drink are completely different products. The canned type is what is usually called for in recipes. I find it in the baking section or near the Thai food in the international section. FYI, coconut sugar is no healthier than any other sugar, so this should definitely be a treat. 🙂 thanks for the vegan recipe!

Hi Megan, I’m sorry to hear it didn’t work for you. I’ve made this sauce several times now and that’s never happened to me so I’m trying to think what might have caused it. Did you use full fat coconut milk from a tin?

Sorry Camille I haven’t tried it with hemp or another plant based milk so can’t advise you on that. My only guess is that the fat content is probably nowhere the same, so it won’t reduce down and thicken like coconut milk.

I followed your instructions (& ingredients) exactly and after 45 minutes the sauce still has not thickened. Im taking it off the stove now and hoping it will thicken as it cools.. Not sure what i did wrong here.

Did it thicken as is cooled Rebecca? This recipe has always worked for me but I wonder if the brand of coconut milk may affect how well the sauce thickens. Also, was it canned coconut milk and not the carton type?

Based in the comments, you may need to clarify that the carton type coconut milk ( or any other “drinking milk” substitute will not work. You need the canned thick coconut milk (light is probably fine, though it may be slightly less thick and creamy); you’re using it as a substitute for heavy cream, so drinking type milks won’t work. I don’t think the kind of sugar you use would matter as much.

Does it taste coconutty? That is the number one question because Mr M cannot stand coconut! There are so many recipes that I have tried, to get around our lack of dairy, but the coconut ones just don’t get past him!!!

Oh gosh, that must be so hard if you are trying to cook dairy free but can’t use coconut milk. I don’t think this tastes coconuty but then again I love coconut so maybe I don’t taste it so much. Maybe give it a try and see what he thinks!

You had me at “salted caramel” – it’s a personal weakness, haha! I’m making a gluten free sticky toffee pudding for the holidays and I think this salted caramel sauce would work wonderfully as the topping – thank you for sharing the recipe. 🙂

Probably I’ll come across it now a little more often since I discovered it’s existence, haha. I live in Barcelona. Sometimes they make me smile here though. For example the biggest supermarket in my neighborhood doesnt have vegetable broth. The good old Spanish 😀

This looks delicious, I’m looking forward to seeing what you make with it later in the week.

I have to admit that I’m still very much into cooking with “bad” foods, but seeing the lovely things on your site (and a few others) is making me think that I should give some of these alternatives a go.

I buy my coconut sugar in bulk from Amazon. But if you fancy giving it a go then maybe try a small bag first and see how you like it. I use the Biona brand and you should be able to get a small 250g bag from most health food stores!

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[…] have a few minutes to spare then I really urge you to try to make your own. I have this recipe for refined sugar free caramel sauce which I use in a bunch of different things. I always seem to have a jar in the fridge ready to add […]